Introduction
I believe there is beauty in serving customers well. There is creativity in designing efficient systems. There is meaning in operating a business that satisfies the needs and wants of the world.
Ever since my first job as a paperboy delivering the Buffalo News, I’ve been fascinated by the prospect of bringing art to business. This pursuit has been a driving force in my career, and it’s something I’ve always enjoyed thinking about and talking about.
When I say bringing art to business, I don’t mean putting nice art on the office walls, although I guess that could be part of it. What I mean is creating a narrative, a story, about what you do and how it connects meaningfully to the world around you. It’s seeing the big picture with all of its constraints and complexity and finding an elegant path forward that is both powerful and restrained. It’s bringing your imagination to your work. It’s delivering quality (in all its forms) to your fellow human beings.
I believe that art is everywhere. It’s not just in music, visual arts, literature and design. Art is in business, too. And it’s in every business, not just the “creative” ones.
I am planning to write many volumes of Art and Business on this blog. There are so many questions and themes I want to explore, and I will use this forum to document and organize my thoughts in this exploration. At the very least, I hope to empty my mind and allow space for new ideas, as some of these concepts have been churning in my brain for thirty years or more.
For those of you who have made it this far in this post, you might be wondering what it is that makes me qualified to take on this topic. Why do my thoughts and feelings and opinions about art and business have any value?
To start, I grew up in a very entrepreneurial family and have always been surrounded by business. It’s what we discussed at the dinner table.
I’ve worked for companies big and small, ranging from local family businesses to large international corporations.
I’ve seen things from many sides. I’ve been an employee, an executive, an owner and a consultant.
I’ve taken on hard and complex problems over and over again in my career. Sometimes I’ve succeeded in finding the right solution. I’ve also failed a lot. I’ve failed so hard that I still feel wounded years later.
I believe in the golden rule and doing the right thing. I find immense value in working with people whose handshake matters and whose word is bond.
I think it’s critically important to feel good about what you do, to feel connected.
I’ve committed to multi-year projects and seen them through. I’ve also changed directions in my career several times to do work that was important to me. This includes a couple of lengthy sabbaticals to pursue artistic passions (music and filmmaking). So, in addition to writing about bringing art to business, I will approach it from the other side, too, and explore what it means to bring business to art.
Most importantly, this is a subject that I really enjoy digging into and there is so much that I want to say, that I want to contribute to the discussion around the role and value of business in the world.